This invention relates in general to devices for indicating the level of fluid in a reservoir and more particularly to a manually operated fluid level indicator for indicating at a location remote from a fluid reservoir whether or not the fluid level of fluid within the reservoir has fallen below a predetermined desired level.
It is common practice in the automotive industry today to provide manually operated dip sticks for visually inspecting the level of fluid, such as oil, in engine crank cases and transmission cases. The dip stick is simply manually removed from the reservoir and the level of fluid retained on the lower end of the dip stick is observed.
However, in many installations, such as the location of the oil crank case in vacation type vehicles, the ease of accessibility is greatly restricted. It has come to my attention that it would be desirable to provide a means for observing at a location remote from the reservoir whether the fluid level within the reservoir has, or has not, fallen below a desired level. In recreation type vehicles where the oil crank case dip stick, by way of example, is located in a difficult and unaccessible location, it would be desirable to have an indicator which could be located on a conveniently observable sidewall of the engine compartment, or perhaps on the interior on the vehicle itself, positioned providing an easily observed indication of whether the fluid level has fallen below a desired level. It would also be desirable to have such an indicator where the conventional manner of measuring the level of fluid in the reservoir can be retained.
With the foregoing in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a simple, few moving parts, manually operated fluid level indicator which may be mounted at a location remote from the fluid reservoir whose fluid is to be monitored and indicate in a reliable manner at such remote location whether the level of fluid within the reservoir has fallen below a predetermined level or not.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a fluid level indicator wherein the components may be manipulated in a conventional manner whereby a dip stick is simply withdrawn from the reservoir and the level of fluid is observed on the dip stick in normal manner.
It is thus a still further object of the present invention to incorporate the advantages of a standard dip stick approach toward measuring the level of fluid in a reservoir and combining therewith the advantages of a remote indicator. It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an indicator as in the foregoing objects which is easily manufactured, and inexpensive to provide as original or replacement equipment and which will solve the problems of inaccessibility of an oil level indicator which has occurred in many prior standard reservoir fluid level indicators, such as manually retrievable dip sticks used in automotive transmission and crank case reservoirs.